There’s a lot of competition for the notice of consumers. It’s getting harder and harder to capture their attention. The average user spends only 10 to 20 seconds on a webpage. Low website session duration and high bounce rates are the nemeses of a business. Marketers must adjust if they wish to grab attention and increase the average time a user spends on their site. The following are steps you can take to engage your readers so they lean into your content, stay on your pages and interact with your information.
- Make it snappy: Users scan rather than read web pages. If covering a complex topic, break into a series of shorter posts. State your conclusion at the beginning of a paragraph to help scanners move quickly from point to point. Make content powerful and engaging. Use lists and infographics.
- Get visual: Humans process images faster than words so add relevant images to your content. Optimize your images before adding them to your website.
- Use motion: Videos increase the time users spend on a web page. Try instructional videos, product demonstrations, industry updates, interviews, testimonials, company informationals (brand and/or team introductions), case studies and commercials.
- Provide tips and takeaways: Provide explicit tips throughout your content using bullets and sub-headings. Use quotes and/or call-outs. End each post with a takeaway that leaves users with one thing top of mind and makes them feel as if the post added value.
- Tidy up the design: Make it easy to see the useful parts of a page immediately upon landing. Keep the design simple and clutter-free, enabling users to focus and encouraging them to stay longer.
- Improve readability: Make your font large enough for easy reading but small enough to avoid excessive scrolling. Break content into easy-to-read chunks. Use headings, paragraphs, bulleted lists and lots of white space. Include image captions.
- Consider internal links: Make sure that articles and pages on your website have plenty of internal links. Set links to open a new tab, leaving the initial window open so your user can return.
- Offer content upgrades: Give users a chance for bonus content by performing an action (sign up for your mailing list, register for a free account, fill out a survey).
- Provide opportunities to comment: Add your personal opinion and ask users what they think.
- Offer success stories: Readers like to see how other people have succeeded in their goals. These stories are inspiring, motivational and are frequently shared.
- Target abandoning users: Give users one last chance to convert into subscribers or customers. Target them with exit intent pop-ups and/or offers when they are about to leave your site. Offer a special discount, ask them to subscribe or take a look at a feature they missed.
- Add a table of contents: Adding a table of contents to articles boosts engagement and time on a page. It’s a quick, engaging way for users to grasp the whole content and easily navigate to the section most relevant to their interests.
- Consider customized chatbots: Visitors are encouraged to spend longer on a webpage when interacting with a proactive chatbot.
- Cultivate organic traffic: Social media traffic has high bounce rates and lower time on page. Organic traffic (any traffic that comes to your site from a search engine, but that isn’t paid for) has better page times. Inbound marketing, SEO efforts and brand reputation building will increase organic traffic.
Start small. Focus on relevant optimized images. Give your writing team a goal of including three specific tips in each piece. Add a video or two. Improve readability and tidy up your design. Keep track of average page times and work to constantly increase them.
Need assistance increasing the time users spend on your website? Want help with your digital marketing strategy? Call us at (403) 456-0072 or email [email protected]. Allow us to be your very own marketing department! Connect with our tightly-knit team of knowledgeable digital-first consultants, each eager to help your business grow. Contact Us today.
